Handball Bundesliga teams are on a confrontation course with the Champions League reform plans of the European umbrella organisation EHF. In a joint statement on Monday, the clubs made it clear that the currently envisaged format of a European league cannot be supported from 2020 onwards with a further increase in the already full repertoire.
“All 18 clubs of the DKB Handball Bundesliga agree that a maximum of 20 matches in the European club competitions per club and season are compatible with the Bundesliga matches, both in terms of timing and sport,”says the statement published after an extraordinary meeting of the Bundesliga clubs in Cologne.
In the announcement, the Bundesliga teams also expressly declared their “current league strength of 18 clubs, including the corresponding match schedule with fixed ejection times on Thursdays and Sundays”. Successful competitions at the European level are “a very high concern” and the Handball Bundesliga and its committees are “ready for further dialogue” and interested in a “mutually agreeable and cooperative solution”.
In October, the EHF presented plans for a restructured European league that would allow six more games to be played. The concept envisages a single-track relay with initially twelve teams, for which the champions of the international top leagues and four other teams will basically qualify.
At the end of the regular season, the best eight teams in the knockout system will play the title – the quarter-finals will be followed by the Final Four in Cologne, which remains untouched in its current form. Later the league could be expanded to 16 participants.